Be Inspired

The core of being an AUNE student is about service and becoming a motivated and positive catalyst in communities across the world. Our goal, after all, is nothing short of changing the world — one business, one classroom, and one community at a time. We want to share with you the stories of a few of our students and alumni who have already begun this work. Prepare to be inspired.

A Measure of Hope

Nearly 7,000 miles from his home in Rwanda, Apollinaire William is pursuing a PhD in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England to help his country cope with deadly floods. Every year rivers in the north and west of Rwanda flood, Apollinaire said. There is damage to crops and houses, cattle die, and people die. Apollinaire studied the problem for years as a conservationist at the National University of Rwanda. There he collaborated with AUNE faculty member Beth Kaplin, whose work on tropical ecology brings her to Africa frequently. He was impressed with Beth’s attitude that lasting solutions must be interdisciplinary and involve the community. I’m going to use a participatory approach to conduct my study, Apollinaire said. I came to realize that the community has a body of knowledge that we never tap into. Most of the time scientists go into the field, collect data, and publish articles. No one from the community collaborates or reads the articles, yet the community are the ones to pay the bill, the ones who suffer those disasters.

When it came time to enter a PhD program to study watershed monitoring and management, Apollinaire’s choice was clear. I looked at programs in Europe, and other programs in the United States, he said. Some are good, but none are so interdisciplinary. AUNE’s program touches on science, economics, environmental issues, and the human dimension. You need to bring in different disciplines, people with different skills, in order to work together and come up with strong, robust, and durable solutions.

As an AUNE scholarship recipient, Apollinaire is deeply aware that donors to the school are also powerful partners in finding solutions. To those who contribute to Antioch, I say: You are making a right and wise decision, he said. By donating to Antioch, you donate to the future of the world, and you will reap the benefits as well.

Dance Isn’t Just About Dancing

As sometimes happens, it was a catastrophe that changed Hang Yin Candy Lo’s life. She was pursuing her entertainment career, working as a vocalist at Hong Kong Disneyland, when the Sichuan earthquake in China occurred. As a performer I could go and sing and dance with the kids, but I knew I could do so much more for the survivors of the quake, she said. But I would need the proper training.

Linking Personal Health to the Health of the Planet

If you ask Thomas Doherty, PsyD ’02, about sustainability, you’ll get an answer that encompasses more than environmental or systems concerns. Individual health and behavior are the necessary primary considerations without which discussions of these broader issues will be incomplete. Thomas’s career path has led him back to an earlier focus on the individual and the environment, and he now manages Sustainable Self, a therapy practice in Portland, Oregon, helping clients integrate environmental values into their personal health. Psychologists are experts in moods and emotions, in identity and in changing behaviors; environmental issues affect people on just those levels.

Early AUNE Student Becomes Teacher for the Underpriviledged

Less than two years ago, Hedda Herzog was teaching a summer school session for youngsters about to enter first grade when she and a co-worker noticed that one girl had stopped attending classes. Soon after, a classmate casually commented that the girl’s father had been murdered. Hedda was saddened, but not shocked. Such incidents occur more often than wanted in the community.

Redefining Personal Success

For a man in his early thirties, Fernando Garcia has seen a lifetime of highs and lows. He has covered many miles and a full spectrum of life lessons. Born in Los Angeles to parents who migrated from Mexico, he endured their divorce, his father’s estrangement and his mother’s death by the time he was 19 years old. Within five years he would graduate from college and become a millionaire.